


Onyx

by wayward_weasley



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Action/Adventure, Angst, Avengers - Freeform, Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Humor, Hydra (Marvel), Romance, SHIELD, Sarcasm, Self-Preservation, Slow Burn, ofc is a piece of shit but we still love her, onyx - Freeform, thinking your better than other people
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-03
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-15 15:47:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,346
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29810724
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wayward_weasley/pseuds/wayward_weasley
Summary: ONYX (noun)-A semi-precious variety of agate with different colours in layers.-A myth believed by few fanatical groups about a being born of shadows and darkness.Nobody believed those fanatical groups, of course. That is, until gods started visiting Earth and aliens rained from the sky. Then people began to pay very close to attention to all those myths. And Bucky Barnes discovers just how true some myths can actually be.“Oh please, I rarely do things to benefit anyone other than myself. The game is survival and I’m the galaxy’s expert on self-preservation.”
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Original Female Character(s), James "Bucky" Barnes/Reader
Kudos: 8





	1. Prologue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to my first fic posted on AO3! I hope you enjoy, but be warned that this is a slow burn and it's going to be a while before we get to much romance, but if you stick around I promise it'll be worth it!

Bremerhaven, Germany

The _Hauptmann_ stood frozen as the woman he had just shot three times in the chest laughed at him. She didn't even look at her wounds, which the _Hauptmann_ noticed had already begun to close up. The blood drained from his face as he sputtered, attempting to form any kind of coherent threat that might phase the woman - _thing -_ in front of him.

“That was cute,” she exclaimed, “you really tried your best and I appreciate that. I do love a bit of attempted murder before breakfast, really builds my appetite. You get it, don’t you?”

This last question was said as she reached forward, too fast for the _Hauptmann_ to even react, and grabbed him by the collar of his uniform. She hauled him through a couple more alleys, moving further into the darkness that was slowly escaping the city as dawn approached. 

She threw him against a wall and he yelped as he felt a rib crack with the ferocity of her action. He curled against the dumpster near him in a futile attempt to escape the womans clutches. She sighed.

“You Nazis are all the same. You might wear a captain's badge but at the end of the day, you’re still a pathetic excuse for a human being. Now,” she knelt in front of the whimpering _Hauptmann, ”_ where’s your science base?”

That seemed to ground him and he glared at the woman furiously. Still slouched on the filthy ground, he spat at her.

She froze.

Then she smiled at him.

Then she punched him in the chest.

He gasped, the momentarily forgotten broken rib now the only thing the _Hauptmann_ was able to focus on.

“ _Bitte, bitte_ !” He cried out. “ _Ich weiß nicht_ !” _(Please, please! I don’t know!)_

“Oh, don’t give me that bullshit. Bremerhaven is a big enough city. I’m not wasting time searching the whole damn place. You either tell me where the base is _oder ich fange an, mehr Rippen zu brechen.”_ She hissed, pressing her hand against his chest for emphasis. _(Or I’ll start breaking more ribs.)_

Still praying that he might actually be let go after this encounter, the _Hauptmann_ mumbled a few directions that would lead the woman to a warehouse near the bank of the river Geeste. 

She took a step back from him, getting her thoughts in order and the directions properly thought out in her head. The warehouse was only a fifteen minute walk away from her current location. She might not miss it after all.

She smiled again. A dangerous thing.

 _“Vielen Dank für Ihre Hilfe.”_ She raised her right hand towards him, palm facing up. “ _Auf Wiedersehen.”_ _(Thank you for your help. Goodbye)_

The man quickly turned desperate, all signs of the captain who had spat at this woman disappearing quickly.

“ _Nein, bitte!”_ He pleaded. “ _Ich habe eine Familie bit-” (No, please! I have a family plea-)_

His frantic cries cut off as the woman closed her fist, and the _Hauptmann_ vanished in a cloud of darkness.

“Should’ve thought about your _Familie_ before you became a Nazi,” she grumbled, making her way quickly to the warehouse as the first sun rays of the morning hit the city.

*****

At least the captain seemed to be telling the truth. To anyone passing by, the warehouse would appear to be abandoned, a decrepit building left to rot by the riverside. But the light smell of gasoline that tinted the air and the tire tracks leading in and out of the large double doors hinted at something more.

The woman stared at the building for a moment and nodded, before turning around and making her way into the apartment complex directly across from it.

She hummed in delight at not bumping into anyone in the halls as she scaled the stairs, heading towards the roof. Fewer witnesses able to describe her face to anyone that might be looking. 

There was a strong breeze on the roof, the weeds flailing back and forth in protest, and she found herself wishing she brought a jacket. But no matter, with any luck she would be off the roof soon enough. That is, if her intel was correct.

Kneeling on the rooftop with her eyes focused on the warehouse across from her, she grinned. Of course her intel was correct.

She wrapped her arms around herself in an attempt to keep warm, and watched dutifully as Captain America and his Howling Commandos stormed the Hydra base.


	2. Chapter One

Roggel, Netherlands

The woman’s nose wrinkled when she was still ten steps away from the bar. The cluster of uniformed men in front of the bar were obnoxiously loud, drinks spilling over the rim of their glasses. The other people on the street crossed over to avoid walking right by them. Probably a good idea. Their laughter carried far, and though they were too inebriated to notice her, she pulled her hood up and kept her head down as she strolled past them to the front door.

_Of course he chose the seediest bar he could find. Some things never change._

The interior wasn’t much better. Customers crowded the bar, empty glasses close to falling off on every table. The bartender looked up as she entered, eyes narrowing. She looked away from his gaze quickly. She had a feeling he wouldn’t miss a trick.

“Onyx!”

She looked up quickly, eyes dancing around the room before landing on the man tucked away in the corner booth. Onyx scowled as she stormed over, shoes sticking to the floor with every step.

“How many times have I told you to keep my name to yourself? But there you go, yelling it around every room you're in,” she said, her words having no effect on the enthusiasm of the man in front of her.

“No need to fuss, sweetheart. Nobody’s paying attention to us here,” he waved his arm around the bar. “Too busy enjoying any night they’re not stuck sweating in the trenches.”

Onyx reached for the drink already sitting in front of her. She trusted the man about as far as she could throw him, but he hadn’t yet betrayed her. Plus, he knew her order. Onyx twisted the straw in her drink. “And lucky you. You get to avoid all of that mess, don’t you, Eddie?”

Eddie’s grin only widened. “I’m just too valuable to lose in some gunfight. Blending in anywhere is a talent few have got.”

He gave her a funny look at that. Eddie had a point. His natural and effortless German had served him well while acting as a spy for the US Army. He could fit in with any group of men, throwing a few quips in for good luck and almost instantly be considered part of the crowd. Onyx, on the other hand, stuck out like a sore thumb. Her outfit of men's dark jeans and a long black overcoat was more suitable for men wishing to remain out of the spotlight. Not the typical getup for a young woman in 1940’s America and she got her fair share of questioning looks and hushed whispers about it.

Lucky for her, Eddie had a habit of trying to bite off more than he could chew, and he seemed to enjoy finding the information Onyx found difficult to get by herself, even if it made him somewhat of a traitor to his country. In fact, Onyx mused, that was probably why he did it. That, and the handsome fee awaiting him, of course. Eddie loved putting his own life at risk. But their arrangement worked; she didn't question how he got intelligence, and he didn’t question why she wanted it.

At Eddie’s words, she surveyed the bar. Sure enough, she had caught the eyes of some of the less intoxicated patrons. She shrugged them off. She had better things to be focusing on.

Turning back to Eddie, she asked, “I’m not here to throw compliments at you, Eddie. Your ego is already insufferable and while I literally have all the time in the world, I’d rather not waste it on you. You got what I asked for or not?”

He winked at her. _God he really was insufferable at times._ He pulled out a scrap of paper from a pocket hidden in the inside of his jacket lining, not even bothering to be subtle about it. He handed it to her with a flourish. Onyx flipped it over, deciphering the nearly illegible scribble.

_Karlsruhe. 1704._

The seventeenth of April. Today was the sixteenth. “You’re sure?” She asked, raising an eyebrow and pocketing the note as Eddie scoffed.

“Give me a little credit, sweetheart. That’s the place. It’s quiet enough, nice town. Do me a favour and maybe don’t blow it up? I’d like to visit it someday. Heard they got some fancy palace down there.”

The bartender was still giving Onyx the side-eye, his grey moustache turned down in an almost-frown. Apparently no respectable woman travelled without a husband and Eddie couldn’t possibly look less like one. 

“I think I’ve outstayed my welcome,” she murmured. 

He snorted. “Since when do you care who’s looking at you funny?”

“Since I’ve been trying to keep off anyone's radar.” _Since always then,_ she thought.

“Hiding in plain sight is how you should be doing it, sweetheart,” he commented, throwing back the last of his whiskey and waving down a different bartender for another. She knew he would spend at least another hour sitting here drinking. Maybe he would go join that gaggle of men out the front of the bar before retiring home and committing a few more acts of treason for the hell of it.

Onyx stood up from the booth, throwing a couple of dollars in front of Eddie . “I’ve always preferred hiding in the shadows.”

*****

April in the south of the Netherlands tended to be filled with cutting winds and the occasional heavy shower that seemed to come from nowhere. Today was no different and Onyx cursed as she stepped out from the bar and into cat-and-dog weather. The streets had emptied in the brief time she had spent with Eddie, not a car in sight either.

Onyx quickly threw up her hood, which immediately fell back against the strength of the wind. 

_Stupid, flimsy, paper-thin material._

After a few more seconds of struggling to keep her hood up, she gave up, letting the rain soak her hair and drip down her back.

She shivered and glanced up at the sky, sighing in relief as night began to fall slowly across the city. _Finally_ . At least she would be able to leave soon enough. _Hopefully the weather in Karlsruhe is less of a bitch._

While stuck in the cold, Onyx began to contemplate Eddie for a moment. She wouldn’t consider him a friend; their relationship was based on more mutual benefits. He gave her information that only he could track down, and she kept his pockets fat and happy. But he knew her name and her face. He hadn’t yet, but there was nothing stopping him from mentioning her and their partnership to some third party. She toyed briefly with the idea of cutting the thread loose and just removing him from the situation before it had a chance to backfire on her, but shut the thought down quickly. No matter the risks associated with dealing with Eddie, she couldn’t deny she had a certain fondness for the useful, albeit irresponsible spy. 

Onyx tutted unhappily. _Affection ruining my judgement, yet again._ She knew she would have to deal with the ticking time bomb that was Edward Clark and his erratic behaviour eventually, but she would leave that to be future Onyx’s problem. Present Onyx already had enough to deal with.

It was twenty minutes later when the weather eased up, another fifteen before she reached her apartment, at which point Onyx was cold, miserable, and regretting that she hadn’t stuck around for one more drink with Eddie. 

She passed a couple of tenants on the stairs up to her apartment, a brief nod the only exchange between them. Anyone staying in this building had their own secrets and need for privacy that few other places granted, and they all respected each other for it.

She travelled light and was fully packed and ready to move on in minutes. Onyx gave the empty apartment a quick glance over. She never stayed anywhere for longer than a few days, but Roggel had caught her eye. The usual abandoned buildings she normally slept in were traded out for an actual apartment that she could stay in for over a week. It wasn't easy to find one willing to take her in; a strange woman dressed funny with no husband or family travelling with her. But she managed to uncover one where the landlord asked no questions, so long as she paid upfront and in cash. It wasn’t ideal that it happened to be in a shady area, but in the end it made no real difference to Onyx. She had always been capable of handling herself.

Onyx nodded, satisfied that everything was in order. She had left her keys and a few extra dollars on the counter-top for the landlord to find, when he inevitably went looking for her for not paying rent in two days' time.

Night had well and truly fallen in Roggel and Onyx could practically feel her adrenaline rise with it. She held out her hands and willed the surrounding darkness to obey her. Barely a second passed before slivers of shadows could be seen flowing through the air, approaching Onyx’s outstretched hands, which began to move upwards. Her hands made an arching movement and the darkness followed suit. Her thoughts focused on what she required, and the shadows flitting about in front of her began to take shape, resembling a large doorway of smoke and shadows.

Onyx let her hands fall. Still feeling energised, she picked up her suitcase and stepped into the shadows which closed around her body, as though embracing her. 

_Welcome home,_ they whispered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am beyond excited for The Falcon and the Winter Soldier! Bucky getting more than just a couple of sentences? Amazing.
> 
> I'm deliberately starting this story slow, but I promise it will all start making sense soon. This story is as much about Onyx and her character and history, as it is a Bucky x OFC. So hopefully you're interested in getting to know her!


End file.
